Sonic Freedom Fighters
by johntheanimefan
Summary: My reimagining of the sonic mythos, with elements from the games, comics, and cartoons. Dr. Robotnik has seized the kingdom of Acorn, with his sights set on the rest of the world. In his way; a ragtag group of freedom fighters, an out of his depth G.U.N agent, and the princess he must defend. War is anything but, but freedom? Way past cool.
1. prologue

_In another time…_

 _In another place…_

Know that this is the Mobius you know, and yet, not. Similar enough to be familiar, yet, like all parallel dimensions, changed in tiny but significant ways.

Know that this is the story you remember, and yet, not. The stage is the same, but certain key events have been shifted.

Know that these are the characters you love, and yet not. The regulars are here to fill the roles you expect. But the players are different, and thus bring new interpretations.

Know all of this, as we begin…

* * *

The Kingdom of Acorn has seen better years. The once illustrious empire which spread over the Westside islands and into the nearby continent of Naka, was considered a force to be reckoned with on the global stage. Perhaps it still is, but for very different reasons.

His name was Robotnik. An ambitious human machinist from eastern Naka, who approached King Nicholas Acorn with very attractive ideas. At the time, the acorn kingdom was expanding further into Naka, much to the disapproval of the United Federation, and the fear of the humans of Naka, who knew that all the acorn kingdom's rule would promise them was slavery.

War seemed inevitable, but Robotnik provided King Acorn with the machines and strategies needed to push back against the United Federation, and claim all of eastern Naka for the kingdom.

While his people were thrown into bondage and servitude, Robotnik was hailed as a hero, the "good one" of the humans. Mostly due to his utter lack of sympathy toward the plight of his own race. Before long, his machines had replaced most of the Acorn military. Which was exactly what he wanted.

One dark day, the seemingly benign robotic peacekeepers of the Acorn capital of Mobotropolis turned on their masters without warning. Robotnik sauntered into the throne room of King Nicholas like the conqueror he was, an army of robots behind him, and a small band of humans and mobians at his side. Robotnik had been planning to seize the Acorn kingdom the entire time, and he offered the king no terms other than unconditional surrender. Nicholas of course resisted, and his shouts of betrayal were silenced by a hail of laser fire. The human slaves, now freed from their bondage, were more than willing to submit to their new leader, convinced he would lead them to a better life. While the mobians were subjected to a fate worse than death: robotization. Flesh and blood replaced by steel and wire, and free will collared by their new master. The humans were promised the same fate if unquestioning loyalty didn't pour from their every action.

It didn't take long for the rest of the kingdom to fall under Robotnik's will. His small band of organic minions, known now as his war band, led their robotic troops across Naka. Within a year, the entire continent was under the thumb of Robotnik. His reasons for all of this remained his own. He made no demands, negotiations or even threats. He simply conquered.

The only thing that spared the rest of the world from the same fate was one chink in Robotnik's otherwise flawless system: the wireless power grid for his robots. Even with all the generators of the kingdom, the power grid couldn't expand far enough out to sea to reach any other major continent. And any satellite he sent up was quickly shot out of the sky by the United Federation. Robotnik and the Federation were caught in a deadlock for the following years, neither ever really managing to gain any ground against the other. The limits of the power grid kept Robotnik from advancing against the Federation, while the Federation couldn't get anywhere near the country without being blown to bits by the fortifications stationed along the shoreline.

After almost 20 years of this, the United Federation could sit by no longer. Robotnik would eventually find a way to expand his power grid, and thus needed to be stopped while they had him in a corner. So, they called on their Special Forces unit; G.U.N. The Guardian Unit of Nations was a smaller, officially nonexistent force that handled the problems no one else could or would. They had been trying to find a way to eliminate Robotnik for the past 20 years, and now, they had the makings of a plan.

G.U.N was a mostly human organization, but around the same time the kingdom of Acorn fell, they launched a successful attack on a cult of echidnan scientists known as the Dark Legion. In their labs the soldiers found a single baby hedgehog. The poor thing had been heavily experimented on by the insane doctors, yet had somehow survived the process. Alive, but changed. His fur was blue like the sky on a clear summer day, and as later analysis showed, he had been gifted with increased speed and agility. The leader of the squad, Lieutenant Patrick Jones, couldn't bring himself to harm the child. So, he and the men and women of his team adopted the boy and raised him with values of honor, freedom, and a sense of right. Having a flair for the dramatic, Patrick knew immediately what to name the boy: Sonic.

Sonic was trained by his adopted family from the moment he could run faster than a car. From hand-to-hand combat, to marksmanship, to parkour, Sonic was taught how to best make use of his powers. While the reckless youth would always run off to see the world he was being taught to protect, he would always return home. And thankfully, he knew how to follow an order when push came to shove.

Which brings us to G.U.N's plan: send Sonic into Naka and, through whatever means he felt necessary, disable the shoreline defenses so the United Federation could then move in and provide support. Sonic would be sent alone and only with two weapons: a combat knife made of flexible steel, its edge filed to the width of an atom so it can cut through effectively anything, and a single large pistol known as the "chaos pistol", which he was only to use as an absolute last resort.

While Sonic was told to use whatever means he could to disable those defenses, he was given one piece of guiding advice: there was apparently a resistance movement of mobians hidden somewhere in the labyrinthine forest of knothole, which covered northern Naka like a blanket. While not especially large, they had recently managed to scrape together some considerable win against the tyrant. They were definitely allies Sonic would want to consider.

So, with his mission set before him, Sonic said his goodbyes to Patrick and the rest of his family and boarded the submarine that would take him to Naka.

And it is here, at long last, where the story begins…


	2. A good ol fashioned nakian welcome

If you know nothing else about Sonic the Hedgehog, know this: He HATED submarines. The blasted things seemed specifically designed to make him miserable. Super tight, enclosed spaces made him jittery by themselves, but super tight enclosed spaces UNDERWATER?! It was everything he could do not to have a panic attack.

But it couldn't be helped. From what sonic gathered during the briefing between daydreams, the defenses this "Robotnik" card placed along the shore were so insane, that the only way to get anywhere close was to inch along as close as they could to the ocean floor without ripping the sub apart. It was weeks before they were within a hundred miles of the western coastline.

But, rather than being brought to the bridge of debriefing, Sonic was instead brought to the torpedo bay, where a hollowed out torpedo laid waiting for…

No.

"C'mon ya big baby," said the engineer with a crooked smirk. He tapped the top of the torpedo, which made an echo that wasn't exactly reassuring.

Sonic turned on his heel to glare up at the commander. He gave Sonic a wrinkled, sheepish grin. "This is the only way we're gonna have a chance to get you ashore," he explained. "If we get any closer, the risk of us being detected by the on shore sensors goes up tremendously. The torpedo is small and fast enough to not be detected until you've made landfall. Then all you have to do is get out of there before you're spotted. Can you handle that?"

Sonic kept his glare for a good two seconds, before he broke out into a chuckle. "Can I handle it, he asks," Sonic said. He turned around to look at the torpedo. "It's just…is this really the only way?"

"Don't worry, sonny," said the commander, who quietly pulled out a tranquilizer gun. "You won't even notice." He aimed the gun carefully at Sonic's back. The tranq, instead, hit the engineer, and Sonic had the gun in his hand.

He cocked an eyebrow at the commander. "You really thought that would work, huh?" he asked.

The commander regained composure, clearing his throat. "My apologies, but since the torpedo is hollowed out just enough for you to fit into, you'll have to be completely still for the entire trip, or risk running it off course."

Sonic placed a hand on his hip. "And you didn't think to just ask me to be tranqed?"

"Major Jones warned us about your…feelings towards needles."

Sonic pinched the bridge of his nose and handed the commander back the tranq gun. "Just get it over with."

The commander gave Sonic a salute. "Good luck, soldier," he said before pulling the trigger.

* * *

Sonic awoke with a sharp gasp, banging his head against the inside of the torpedo. Sonic pushed on the hatch, but it refused to budge. Craning his neck in very uncomfortable ways revealed that something about the way the torpedo landed had jammed the lock holding down the hatch. Sonic groaned and shuffled around until his foot was set against the hatch. With a grunt, Sonic not only opened the hatch, but sent the sheet of metal flying off into the distance where no doubt it would embed itself in the head of some poor confused robot.

Sonic crawled out of the torpedo and fell face first onto the sand, kissing it like it was a long lost lover. "Land! Glorious land!" he proclaimed. "Oh I'll never leave you again, my darling!"

"That can be arranged," said a monotone, synthesized voice from behind Sonic. Sonic looked up to find a squad of vaguely human sized and shaped robots armed to the teeth with mounted plasma weapons on their arms and shoulders. The squad leader, colored purple as opposed to the red foot soldiers, looked down at Sonic with a single red eye. "By which this unit means that we will put you six feet under the ground."

"Yeah, I got it," Sonic replied, deadpan.

"This unit was just making sure," said the robot. "You organics can be slow at times."

Sonic's eyes widened, and he stood up. "I'm uh, sorry, what did you call me?" he asked.

"This unit called you slow." The robot raised its arm cannon to Sonic's head. "Your new designation will be: Dead." In the time it took the robot to finished the last word of that sentence, Sonic had already made it behind him and aimed its arm cannon at one of the other robots. Before it could process this, however, it had already fired, sending a wave of green plasma ripping through the other robot's head. Then its arm fell off, as Sonic took that time to unscrew the bolts along its arm joints.

The rest of the squad finally realized what was going on, and whipped their weapons around at Sonic, who was standing right next to their commander. Sonic waved condescendingly at the soldiers. "Take your best shot, bots and gears. Trust me, you'll only get one." Before the commander could send out the order to cease fire, the entire squad unloaded their plasma rounds at Sonic, who simply ran to a safe location nearby, leaving the commander to be reduced to slag. Sonic gave a mock wince. "Ooooh, good thing your boss probably doesn't pay you. Turning your commander to chunky salsa is a big no no where I come from." The robots turned their guns once again to Sonic, who gave one last wave. "Love to stay, but I got shit to do. Toodles." And with that, Sonic disappeared in a cloud of dust that trailed out into the horizon.

* * *

Once Sonic was confident that the robots had given up on searching for him, he sped over to a nearby plateau, which was just close enough to one of the many 7 story tall control towers dotting the coastline that Sonic could get a good view, but far enough away that he could hide if need be. A part of him wanted to just run in and disable the towers himself before anyone knew the difference. That part of him was swiftly silenced when a Nakafly (basically a butterfly the size of a golden retriever) flew a touch too close to the tower, and was instantly reduced to a pile of ashes by an invisible energy shield. Sonic gulped, plan A was out.

It was then that Sonic remembered one of the few pieces of Intel G.U.N managed to acquire: the rebel group stationed in knothole forest to the north. They might not have a way through the shield, but they definitely knew the land, and the enemy, better than him. So, Sonic sped down the plateau and off into the distance.

* * *

The robots that controlled the towers, for obvious reasons, didn't get many visitors. Besides the occasional freshly roboticized citizen sent to one of the towers as an extra hand, the shields were meant to stay up at all times. If something happened, they would simply notify Robotnik via instant messaging.

The encounter with Sonic on the beach would've prompted such a message, but before the robian (roboticized mobian) technicians in the nearest tower could send the message, the lights went out across the bridge. One second later, the backup generator came online, and the lights flickered back to life. But one shadow remained in the middle of the room. A shadow that moved like the knives you never saw coming across the room. "The hand is on deck," he said in a creaky, slithering voice that could petrify a forest fire. The robians immediately stood from their seats, saluting the hooded human.

"Greetings, Hand of Robotnik," they said in unison. The hand of Robotnik was the man's designation, but the name he chose to go by (though it was also unclear if even that was his name) was Krueger. It was anyone's guess where the machine ended and the man began with Krueger, as not only was his entire body often concealed behind a dark purple cloak, but any part of him that was visible, mainly his hands and sometimes his face, were covered in cybernetic enhancements. A respirator covered the entire lower half of his face, which gave his voice a frightening echo. His eyes were replaced by cybernetic prosthetics that gave off a faint red glow beneath his shadowy hood. His arm, pitch black and running with wires, reached out to clasp onto one of the robian's chairs with talon-like fingers.

"I was in the area, and I was alerted to a disturbance on the coast," Krueger said. "I trust the disturbance has been…seen to?"

The robian nearest Krueger turned to look up at the gargoyle of a man before him. While the very conscious mind of the roboticized terrier screamed to run away in fear, the body that mind was trapped in lost the ability to feel fear or a need to survive long ago. Robotization removed that for better efficiency. So, there was no hesitation in delivering the bad news. "Negative, Lord Krueger," it said in its unfeeling monotone. "The intruder made it to shore with the help of an unmarked submarine. Moments after making its delivery, our defenses destroyed the vessel, but the intruder made it to shore before our sentries could notice it."

"But you _did_ notice it, yes?" Krueger released the chair, having bent the metal like paper.

"We did, sir," replied the robian canine. "But our squad was unable to apprehend him. For further examination, we were able to salvage the coastbot's camera feed." The robian held out its hand, from which a small usb drive ejected from its wrist.

Krueger took the usb drive and placed it in his pocket. "Thank you, I will take this to Lord Robotnik for examination. As for your failure…" IN a flash, Krueger had his steel claws clamped over the robian's face. Two of his fingers jutted out and pressed themselves on the metallic orbs that were once the robian's eyes. The robian stood silent, unflinching, despite its conscious brain within screaming for its legs to move. Then, Krueger let go. "What would be the point?" he asked no one in particular. He returned his arm under his cloak and made his way out of the room. "Return to your stations. This is a robotnik matter now."

With that, the robians returned to work without another thought.

* * *

Western Naka was a dream come true for Sonic. A mountainous region filled with hills, valleys and canyons for him to run through at top speed. While the United Federation had its share of beautiful places, Sonic had been to each and every one and knew at least six of them like the back of his hand. Naka wasn't just beautiful, it was _new._ While Sonic didn't stop running, he had places to go after all, he slowed down just enough so he could properly take it all in.

However, Sonic's stomach soon made it quite clear to him that he should probably find a town. So, Sonic found a nice tall mountain, and, using it to give himself a better view, he found a small collection of buildings an hours run away. "Oh I hope they have chili dogs," Sonic mumbled to himself before taking off.

A small, rickety sign that hung loosely on a withered old pine tree bore the town's name: Incipere. Sonic stopped well outside the town, as to not scare the locals, and he strolled into town with a whistle on his lips.

The main export of Incipere was dust, misery, and liquor that tasted like gasoline. Humans and mobians, all of varying degrees of disheveled, either wandered through the small town or just laid on a random street corner without the capacity to care about much of anything. Needless to say, Sonic was put off. He had been told, both by his commanders and by his own common sense that things in Naka were bad, but there was definitely a difference between being _told_ and actually _seeing._ A part of him wanted to stay here and help these people, but another part told him _we'll help them by getting rid of Robotnik. That'll help them more than anything we can do right now._ Sonic had no choice but to hope the voice was right.

But Sonic was broken from his thoughts by, shocker, an actual sound. The miserable silenced was shattered like glass by a large bear being thrown from a nearby saloon. The barkeep dusted off his hands, then crossed his arms as the bear wiped a trail of blood from his mouth with a growl. "We got enough troubles here without temperamental old war dogs like you starting fights! Now beat it!" Shouted the barkeep.

From behind him, a coyote dressed in faded military garb pressed his hands together in apology. "M-my sincerest apologies for my friend," he said in a thick French accent. "Rest assured, Monsieur, we will be on our way post haste, we-" The door was slammed in the coyote's face before he could finish the sentence. The bear pushed himself to his feet, to be greeted by the coyote, who was tapping his foot and had his hands on his hips. "Well, are you quite happy now, Bruin?" he asked.

The bear, named Bruin, grunted down at the coyote. "Pinky in there had it coming," he said with a voice similar to a piston coming down on your head.

The coyote pinched the bridge of his nose and gritted his teeth. "Whether he deserved it or not is irrelevant. We needed information, and now we likely will not get it, so agréable."

Bruin huffed, but cast his eyes down in shame. "Sorry, Antoine."

"Hey," Sonic chimed in, appearing right next to the two. "You two need help?"

Bruin gave Sonic a light growl. Bruin was a bear that moved like a wall. Or a wall that moved like a bear, Sonic couldn't decide. He had an ammo belt across his chest, and a heavy machine gun hanging from his side. "What's it to you, hedgehog?"

Sonic held up his hands, smiling sheepishly. "Hey man, I wanna help. Is that so hard to understand?"

Bruin picked Sonic up by the scruff of his fur and looked him in the eye. "Yes, yes it is."

Antoine jumped up to grab onto Bruin's arm, pulling it back down to earth. "Bruin, calm down, and let us at least be hearing the boy out." Bruin grunted, but put Sonic down. Antoine turned to look at Sonic. "You must understand our distrust, Monsieur Hedgehog. Selflessness is, well, a rare commodity, to put it lightly."

Sonic shrugged. "Well, consider me a trendsetter. I'm from outta town. Way outta town."

"The blue fur told us that much," said Bruin.

Sonic knew he couldn't tell them the whole truth. So, he lied. "I'm a mercenary," he said. "I'm uh, looking for work."

Antoine crossed his arms and cocked an eyebrow. "And you came…to _Naka?"_

"Put that way, it doesn't sound like the smartest move. But I'm not any more of a fan of this Robotnik guy than anyone else, and I heard that there were these freedom fighting go-getters working against him. Sooooo, here I am." Sonic put on his best smile for the two.

Antoine and Bruin exchanged sidelong glances, and looked back at Sonic. "Wow," said Bruin. "I have never seen so much bullshit piled up at once."

"It's astounding, really," Antoine chimed in. They both turned around and began walking off. "Be seeing you, garçon bleu."

Before Sonic could catch up with them, the saloon doors were kicked open again, and a _very_ drunk human stumbled out with a shotgun. "Mobian filth!" he slurred as he aimed the barrel at Bruin.

Bruin grabbed his rifle and aimed it at the drunk. "Come for round 2, eh?" Bruin asked through gritted teeth. Then, Bruin blinked. When he opened his eyes, Sonic was standing over the tied up drunk, and removing the ammo from the shotgun. Sonic placed the shotgun in front of the human, but kept the rounds.

"You can keep the gun, you'll find more rounds," Sonic told him. He then placed the shotgun shells in his pocket and walked over to Antoine and Bruin, who looked at him dumbfounded. "Well?"

Antoine and Bruin shared another sidelong glance, the turned back to Sonic. "I think our boss will have a place for you," said Antoine, who grabbed and shook Sonic's hand. "I am Antoine D'Coolette."

"Bruin," Bruin said with his arms crossed.

Sonic smirked at the two. "I look forward to working with you two. I'm Sonic, Sonic the Hedgehog."


	3. Princess Sally Acorn

While Antoine and Bruin weren't allowed back in the saloon, that rule didn't apply to Sonic. In fact, for stopping the drunk human, Sonic was given a free meal of his choosing. Antoine told Sonic to enjoy his meal while he "made a call". So, while Sonic slurped down a warm chili dog at his table inside the saloon, Antoine got to work.

"Just a wee bit higher, Bruin!" Antoine called down to Bruin, who was lifting Antoine up over his head. From on top of an old telephone pole. On his tippy toes. Needless to say, Bruin was not having fun.

"Would you hurry it up, kid?!" He shouted.

Antoine was holding out a small radio dish as far as he could with one hand, and hanging on for dear life with the other. _Don'tlookdowndon'tlookdownDON'TLOOKDOWN!_ Suddenly, the headset that the dish was attached to crackled to life as it found a signal. "Enfin…Yes, Antoine to Knothole, come in Knothole," he said, shaking the radio dish up and down.

"bzzzzt-hole to Antoine, we read you," came a voice from the headset. Antoine lit up.

"Wonderful. I have something I wish to discuss with ze prince-uh, ze boss. Mind patching me through, Rotor?"

"She doesn't have time for another one of your love letters, 'twan," Rotor replied dryly.

"Just patch me through, petit malin."

"Fine, fine." Rotor's voice faded back into static, which continued for about two seconds before another voice, feminine but commanding, came through. "What is it, Antoine?"

"A-ah, my princess, how lovely to hear your voice," Antoine said as smooth as he could. Which is to say, not at all.

"I'm hanging up," She replied immediately.

"Wait! I actually do have something for you. You see, we met this mercenary who, well, _knows_ us. Or at least knows about us. He wants to join the freedom fighters."

Antoine could practically hear her pinch the bridge of her nose. "Antoine, we're not so desperate an organization that we'll take in any gun happy stray off the street."

"Princess, you must under-" Bruin grabbed the headset off of Antoine's head and held the microphone to his mouth. "Ma'am, the boy subdued an armed human in the time it took me to blink," Bruin said. "And no, I'm not exaggerating about that. Kid's lying through his teeth about the whole mercenary story, but he seems to genuinely want to help us. His abilities, I believe, at least warrant a meeting, if not a test."

There was a pause, as Antoine (who was now holding onto Bruin's arm the way a koala hangs on a tree) and Bruin listened closely to the headset for the boss's answer. Finally, a sigh. "Fine, bring him to the usual spot, I'll give him the once over." Antoine and Bruin sighed in relief. "But," she continued sharply, making the two reclench their butt cheeks. "Don't think you're out of the woods just yet for botching up getting that info."

Antoine and Bruin looked at each other in shock. Antoine looked back at the headset. "H-how did you…?"

"I can practically smell your screw up through the phone. I'll be at the usual spot at 0500, I expect to find you three there. And Antoine-" The coyote gulped audibly. "-stop calling me princess." The headset returned to static.

"Well, that went well, I think," said Antoine.

"As well as it can go with her," Bruin added as he climbed down the pole and dropped Antoine face first onto the ground. "Let's go get the kid."

* * *

"Roboticizer plans?" Sonic asked the tied up human while gulping down his last chili dog. "That's what this is about?"

"Yeah," replied the human, who had been sobered by the pounding sun. "I'm a merc. Did some jobs for Robotnik that got me into his base in Robotropolis. So those morons thought that I'd know which of the bazillions of computers in that place had the roboticizer plans on it." He scoffed. "As if I'd be allowed to walk away if I knew."

"Uh huh," Sonic mumbled. "And the fight?"

The human smirked. "Old war bear couldn't take a joke, is all. He could take a punch though." The human was then shaded by Bruin, who stood over him arms crossed, staring down at him with a growl.

"And if you'll recall, I can give one back," said Bruin.

The human rolled his eyes. "Look, I don't know anything, now will you leave me alone?"

Bruin growled louder, but Antoine stepped between them. "Yes, yes we will," he said firmly to both of them.

Sonic stood up smiling and dusting off his hands. "Well glad that's all sorted out," he said. "Sooo, what now?"

"Now you get to meet our boss so she can make a decision about you," said Bruin. "You better hope that earlier stunt wasn't a fluke, she hates having her time wasted."

Sonic sauntered over, brandishing a smirk, and nudged Bruin in his _very_ large torso with his elbow. "Don't you worry, old man. Within a week, you'll wonder how you ever got by without me."

Bruin huffed and turned and walked away. Antoine chuckled nervously. "He'll warm up to you, promettre," he said. Antoine followed Bruin and gestured for Sonic to follow. "Come, our ride is this way."

Sonic shrugged, put his hands behind his head and followed the two down the street and around a corner. The only thing really of note in the alley was a dirty tarp thrown clumsily over a hoverbike. Bruin removed the tarp, folded it up, and placed it in his backpack. Bruin and Antoine got on the hoverbike, where Bruin then pressed a small button on the console. A compartment opened on the left side of the bike, and a sidecar assembled itself right in front of Sonic. "Get in," Bruin ordered. Sonic rolled his eyes, if they gave him a destination, he'd have been there by now. But he had to play along, or he wouldn't get anywhere. So, swallowing his pride, Sonic crammed himself into the small sidecar and pouted.

Bruin chuckled at Sonic's misfortune before pressing the ignition switch on the console. The hoverbike sputtered and growled to life, clumsily floating into the air. Antoine fumbled about with his backpack until he pulled out a small computer pad. "Okay, let's see," Antoine said to himself as he activated the GPS. "Setting destination for the usual spot. Should be about an hour."

Sonic groaned audibly. "Ya know, if you want me to meet your boss so bad, I can be there myself in 5 minutes," he said.

"And that's the problem," said Bruin, who pressed another button, summoning a seatbelt to bind Sonic to his seat. "Now sit down and shut up."

Sonic rested his chin in his hand. The hoverbike sputtered twice more before taking off, leaving Incipere behind. The ride was long and the most awkward form of quiet. The sidecar being two sizes too small for Sonic certainly wasn't helping with that. Mind you, being too sizes too small for a mobian is two sizes too small for most things. Any conversation Sonic tried to start up was met with a disinterested grunt from Bruin and outright silence from Antoine, who had fallen asleep on the way. The mountains that had surrounded Incipere had given way to barren, sandy fields with barely any wildlife to speak of dotting the land.

Just as Sonic's skull was about to collapse in on itself from boredom, he felt the hoverbike shift in direction for the first time in over an hour, which was enough to rouse him awake. In the distance, he spotted a series of dots that, as they grew in size, revealed themselves to be a cluster of hollow ruins overgrown with plants. Sonic yawned and stretched his arms as best as he could. "This the place?" he asked Bruin.

"Some ground rules," Bruin replied without answering his question. "You are to stay a minimum of 6 feet away from the boss at all times. You are to remain in our sights at all times. You will relinquish your weapons whenever you are in the room with her _at all times._ Until such time as she deems you trustworthy, this will be the extent of your interaction with her. Is that understood?"

Sonic huffed and rolled his eyes again, but nodded. "Sure thing, old man," he said.

Bruin grunted and pulled up in front of what used to be the top of a considerably large building. Buried under the Naka soil, its top three stories were all that remained. Most of the wood had rotted away, leaving an exposed clockwork exoskeleton. _A clocktower?_ Sonic thought to himself as he was led by Bruin and a groggy Antoine to a carved out hole in the side. The hole was covered by a torn and faded tarp. If Sonic looked closely, he could just barely make out the color blue with two stripes of red intersecting across. Bruin pulled the tarp aside and watched Sonic as he walked inside.

The inside of the building was a mess of large rusted gears, strung about cables, and assorted stone and metal debris. The moment Sonic was two feet inside, he knew he was being watched. They were smart enough to stay as far away from the streams of sunlight coming in from the openings in the ceiling as they could, but they weren't careful about moving around and causing echoes. Bruin walked up next to Sonic and held out his large paw. Sonic nodded, and handed him his holstered chaos pistol and his knife. Sonic held up his hands as high as they could go. "I just wanna talk," he said. "I hear you've been fighting this robotnik guy, well, I want in."

"That so?" asked someone that Sonic had not heard move. He turned around to face this new voice. She was shrouded in the darkest part of the already dark clocktower, well hidden from any would be attacker. She revealed herself, meaning she was interested. She struck a match on a nearby piece of stone and brought it up to her face, lighting a cigarette. The match illuminated part of her face, revealing her piercing blue eyes that locked on Sonic like an apex predator. The match went out, and she walked out of the darkness with a puff of smoke floating around her head. A vision of beauty and danger that left Sonic stunned to his spot. A hybrid between a squirrel and a chipmunk, with a mane of fiery red hair that partially obscured her eyes and ran down to her shoulders. Her slim, slightly muscular body was cloaked in a navy blue trench coat that hid a holstered revolver.

This was Princess Sally Acorn, and within ten seconds, she had done the near impossible; shut Sonic the hedgehog up.

Sally walked toward Sonic, her eyes never leaving his. She stopped mere inches away from him and stared deeper. The smoke from her cigarette wafted from her mouth and stroked along his face. Finally, Sally blinked and pulled back. As if her eyes casted some kind of spell on him that kept him from moving, and blinking was the act that broke it, Sonic clenched his watery eyes shut and waved the smoke from his face with a cough. "Holster 'em, he's not a spy," Sally said. The sounds of rifles being holstered echoed through the room. Sally, looked back at Sonic. "So, you're the upstart that Bruin recommended?" she asked, looking him up and down.

Sonic regained his composure and smirked. "The very same. Sonic the hedgehog, at your service," he said with a clumsy bow. "You must be the princess."

Sally remained stoic. "I am Sally Acorn, yes," she replied.

Sonic leaned in to her, "Well I am just charmed." Sonic then leaned back, slowly, when Bruin placed the barrel of his rifle at his head.

Sally didn't miss a beat. "Bruin informed me of your skill; subduing a gunman in the time it took my best soldier to blink. Quite a recommendation." Sally blew out another stream of smoke before taking out the cigarette and holding it between her index and middle fingers. "However, I remain unconvinced." With her other hand, she snapped her fingers. "Bunnie." Sonic looked up to his left to see, standing on one of the rusted catwalks, a bunny mobian with robotic legs and right arm. She glared down from under her cowgirl hat as she aimed her robotic arm down at Sally. The hand rearranged itself until it finished in the shape of a small cannon. Which was aimed right at Sally's head.

Sonic whipped his head back around to Sally, who calmly placed the cigarette back in her mouth. "She is going to shoot at me. You're going to stop her." Sally looked back up at Sonic, right back into his eyes. She wasn't kidding. "Bunnie…Fire." Before Sally could finish that command, Sonic was off like a bullet. A trail of blue tinted wind followed behind him as he sped past the four other guards stationed along the catwalks to get to Bunnie. Right as a ball of glowing red energy finished building up in the barrel, Sonic grabbed Bunnie's arm and pulled it up. A crimson beam of superheated plasma sped down towards the princess. Sally, meanwhile, calmly put out her cigarette on her boot, reached into a pack to grab another, and tilted her head upwards to catch a light from the plasma beam, which just barely missed her head and impacted the wall behind her. Sally gave a toothy grin that plumed with smoke.

Sonic glared at Bunnie. 'Okay, first off, you are a whole other batch of crazy," said Sonic, who got a wink from Bunnie as a response. Sonic sped down back in front of Sally, turning his glare on her. "Secondly, what if I _wasn't_ that fast?"

Sally chuckled and parted her trench coat slightly. Hooked onto her belt was a small octagonal device that glowed blue in its center. "Then this shield generator would've blocked the blast. That was hardly Bunnie at her best, I would've been fine."

Sonic's glare subsided and he backed away from Sally. "Still, that was a little much, don't you think?"

"Hardly," Sally replied. "I needed to test how fast you are, and you performed admirably." Sally reached over and lightly patted Sonic's cheek with the back of her paw. "You're in."

Sonic stared wide eyed at Sally. He looked around at the other soldiers around him for any kind of indication as to how to feel about what just happened. Antoine was chuckling under his breath, Bruin rolled his eyes and grunted, and he could hear Bunnie laughing from across the room.

Sonic sighed, something told him that his fun had only just begun.


	4. Joining the resistance

**Well this took a while. Yeah, REALLY hectic month, like out of nowhere kind of hectic -_-. For one, class picked up the pace considerably, and I'm nearing graduation so I'm gonna be even busier pretty soon. Also my pipes burst and flooded my kitchen and most of the livingroom, so we're trying to sort that out. But we're back, so no more dilly dallying!**

Across the long, battle scarred badlands of Naka, laden with the hollowed out shells of forgotten battles and forsaken cities, was Robotropolis. Not so much a city itself, as rather a cancerous mechanical growth on the blown out husk of one. Specifically the mobian capital of Mobotropolis. Once a shining golden beacon of the Acorn Empire, now a cold pit of steel, wire and hopelessness. From the distance it loomed over the horizon like an obelisk set against the sun. Inside, though, it was much worse.

Rotting and skeletal corpses lined the streets alongside broken and blasted swatbots wherever people didn't live. And wherever people did live was only better in the sense of it lacking in corpses. There were intact houses, yes, and occasionally the human's lord and master would drop in food and water for the larger population centers (keyword: occasionally) but other than that, the larger the population, the more chaotic it was. Not only was there basically no law, allowing the denizens of Robotropolis to commit any act of desperation or insanity they pleased, but barely a single plat of land in the city or outside was fertile, so no crops could grow. And anywhere that was fertile was quickly snatched up and occupied by the local raider gang.

And then there were the city's robotic patrollers. Standing a foot taller than most humans, thus being gargantuan in size to a mobian, they stalked the streets looking for any human or mobian that appeared dangerous. The unanimously agreed upon response when a swatbot patrol was seen on the horizon was to head inside just to be safe.

Truly the humans of Naka were the unluckiest in all the world. Doomed to slavery at the hands of the mobians, they stood behind a charismatic genius they believed would lead them to salvation. Instead they traded one hell for another, and now only had themselves to blame.

And at the top of this hellish nightmare of industry was the lair of the mad doctor himself; "The Genesis Egg". If Robotropolis was a cancer, then the Genesis Egg was the tumor from which the disease spread out. From the sky, the whole city appeared to be an outgrowth from the egg shaped tower in the center. Something was always flying in and out of the giant egg, there were always lights and sounds of some kind coming from its mass. Anyone who lived in Robotropolis was constantly made aware of its presence, and of how the man within owned them like cattle.

 _Home sweet home._ Krueger thought to himself as his ship touched down in the western hangar bay of the Genesis Egg. His ship opened, and Krueger walked out, greeted by a line of swatbots standing at attention. At the end of this line was Percival Snively. If Krueger was the hand of Robotnik, then Snively was definitely the ears. A short, thin, bald cretin of a man who ran Robotnik's efforts inside Robotropolis, while his master continued his machinations in the surrounding country. Snively joined Krueger as he passed, walking with him out of the hangar and into an elevator. The elevator hummed to life, carrying the two up into the complex.

"You've been away for quite a while this time around," said Snively.

"I had business I needed to conduct, personally," Krueger replied. "This will not be repeated."

"I should hope not," Snively shot back as he pushed his glasses up along his beak-like nose. "Lord Robotnik does not care for his minions taking off with barely a word. Especially when such behavior is normally unexpected of them."

Krueger let his shoulders slump. "How mad?" he asked.

Snively turned to a datapad in his hand, not looking up at Krueger. "You're lucky you're his favorite." Krueger groaned and reached up under his hood to rub his shaved head. The elevator stopped and opened to a dimly lit room whose walls were lined with computer monitors, with a single large chair mounted in the center. "Showtime," said Snively before pushing Krueger out, sending him stumbling across the floor before catching himself.

Krueger quickly regained his posture and fell on bended knee before the back of the chair. "Lord Robotnik," he said. "I apologize for the abruptness of my departure. But I return with news that may interest you." A large robotic arm stretched out from the chair with an open palm. Krueger quickly placed the usb drive in the hand, and it was retracted.

The usb drive was placed into the arm of Robotnik's chair, which in turn displayed its contents on the computer screens lining the walls. On every screen was shown Sonic's domination over the coastbot squad and disappearing into the distance in the blink of an eye. There was no audible reaction from Robotnik, and Krueger couldn't see his face from behind the chair. "This is the only visual we have on this outsider, sir," he said. "We do not know where he came from, where he went, or what his purpose is. I came to you for permission to look into this new nuisance personally, as a way of atoning for my absence."

Finally, Robotnik spoke. "Make it so." His voice was quiet, even, focused, and cold as newly manufactured machinery. "This country already has too many narrow minded idiots who seek only to stop me from saving this world. I will not have more fall in out of nowhere."

"I will find him, my lord, and he will be made an example." Krueger stood up, gave another curt bow to his master before turning on his heel and walking out.

Under the shroud of darkness, Robotnik allowed himself a wicked smile. "And that's why you're my favorite."

* * *

"Can I take the blindfold off now?" Asked Sonic.

"Take a wild guess," replied Antoine.

"Didja really think we'd let you see how ta get ta Knothole on ya first day?" Bunnie chimed in.

Sonic pouted. Shortly after his test, Sally had someone (probably Bunnie) drug him. When he woke up, he was blindfolded and on a vehicle of some kind traveling at high speeds. He could tell by the heavy breathing on the back of his head that Bruin was right behind him, probably brandishing that rifle in case he made any moves they didn't like. And Sally, if she even was in the vehicle, had stayed completely silent the entire time. Which left Sonic plenty of time to ruminate on his new boss. Specifically their first encounter.

He had NEVER been left so utterly speechless and paralyzed by anyone. Years of being unfazed by the hardiest of drill instructors, trainers and commanders, and one woman did in ten seconds what none of them could do in 20 years. And, if he was being entirely honest; it was kinda hot. His mind wandered back to how she walked out of the shadows, instantly dominating the atmosphere of the room with an air of command. She froze him to the spot with those piercing blue eyes, and only broke him free from her control when she wanted him to prove himself to her. Every move she made seemed to be calculated and planned 8 steps ahead. He had never met a woman quite like her before in his entire life. And he had grown to have quite the high bar when it came to badass women, given his home environment.

Sonic was broken from his thoughts, however, when the vehicle came to a complete stop. The blindfold was removed, allowing Sonic to get his bearings. They were in a garage, filled with hoverbikes, dune buggies and armored trucks. Sounds of rivet guns and blowtorches hitting metal echoed from behind the walls. There were other vehicles parking next to theirs, packed with the small dozen soldiers that had attended his testing.

The doors opened and everyone got out. Sonic stretched his arms, legs and neck. He had lost track of just how long they were in there. Had to have been an hour, maybe more. Too long, in his opinion, to be cooped up in a small metal box with five other people who didn't want to talk to you. "Enjoy the ride?" Asked Sally from behind. Sonic turned around to find her side-leaning against the hood of the car and smiling wryly at him. However, this time Bruin was directly behind her, his eyes trained on Sonic.

Sonic ignored him and shrugged. "Would've enjoyed it more without the blindfold," he said. _And, you know, the drugging._

Sally walked past him, gesturing with her head for him to follow. "Prove that we can trust you and no more blindfold. Simple as that."

Sonic followed Sally to the back of the garage, where she then brought him to a door labeled "hangar bay". "So, when do I prove myself trustworthy enough to see the actual base?" Sonic asked.

"For that, you'll just have to do a few jobs for us," Sally replied as she opened the door. "Until then, you'll stay in the hangar and do odd jobs for tails." Sally swung the door open, and the two were blasted with a wall of sound. The door was soundproofed, which kept all the sounds of heavy machinery and plane engines out of the already noisy garage. However, once opened, it was like releasing Pandora's Box upon Sonic's ears. Sally, meanwhile, was unfazed, as she had packed earplugs.

Once feeling returned to his eardrums, Sonic followed Sally into the hangar. The bay doors to his far right were closed, and to his left was a variety of aircraft. From one-seated air speeders to jet powered biplanes. All of them were made ramshackle from the parts of other planes, yet nonetheless looked capable of flight. Sally looked up at one of the planes hanging from the high ceiling. There was a small hovering platform underneath the plane. Parts and tools fell from it, indicating that the "tails" sally mentioned was up there, working on this particular plane. Like the others, it was a Frankenstein's monster of other planes, spray painted a deep blue to give the illusion of being one singular machine. It had an acorn empire biplanes' body, but the wings of a federation fighter and jet engine. Both of which were, in layman's terms, NOT compatible with the body. Didn't help that it lacked a propeller on the front, which left Sonic wondering what exactly would power that engine.

"Tails!" Sally shouted. The noise coming from the platform ceased, and it lowered down halfway to the ground. "Got that extra pair of hands you wanted!"

From the platform sprung up a young yellow fox mobian, fur caked in grease and decked out in tools. He also had two tails that flowed behind him, equally greased. He looked down at Sally, then at Sonic behind her. Sonic gave a smile and a wave, which Tails returned. "Awesome," he said as he lowered the platform. Tails stepped off and approached the two. As he got closer, Sonic noticed his height, or lack thereof. Tails was a kid, probably not very far into his teens. Yet just looking at him for a minute or two showed a boy intelligent well beyond his years. Sonic almost saw actual gears turning behind those big blue eyes. Tails stopped in front of him and shook his hand. "Top of the mornin, or night, or-what time is it?" he asked.

"Time for you to get some sleep," Sally said, patting him on the back. "And when you get up, you'll show our new friend here around the garage." She turned to the door, donning a pair of aviator shades. "Try to get him acclimated quickly, I think I'm gonna need him in a few days. And he's new in town, so be nice." With that, Sally left the two with a casual wave as she walked out.

The door closed, leaving Sonic and Tails together. "So," said Sonic, who held out a hand. "The name's Sonic, nice to meet ya."

Tails took the older hedgehog's hand heartily. "The pleasure's mine," tails replied. "So, Sally give you the ice queen routine?"

Sonic put a hand behind his head and smiled sheepishly. "More like the psychotic Machiavellian warlord routine."

Tails whistled. "She only dusts that one off when she likes what she sees." Tails stepped back and placed his hands on his hips. "So what'd she see in you besides your expertise in fur dye?"

"Firstly, you can't fake perfection," Sonic said with a smirk as he held out his arms to show off. "And second…" Sonic grabbed Tails' socket wrench from off his belt, threw it across the room toward a large tool case, ran over, searched through the case until he found an identical socket wrench, put the original in his back pocket, and presented the new one to Tails. All in the span of a half second. "Need I say more?"

Tails nodded in approval. "Flashy." He held out his hand and cocked an eyebrow. "Now hand over my _actual_ wrench, please."

Sonic smiled wide as he handed Tails the wrench. He was gonna like this one. He just had a feeling.

After both had sufficiently shown off to each other, Tails proceeded to give Sonic the grand tour of the hangar. "Obviously we don't have the resources to build our own hangar," said Tails as he guided Sonic down the corridors of planes and other vehicles. "We found it out here along with a bunch of other buildings."

"Well, that explains the ceiling," Sonic said, looking up at the patchwork ceiling of welded scrap.

"Yeah, think it was an old human base. Aunt Sally decided we should set up shop here, and the rest is history."

Sonic looked back down at Tails. "Aunt?"

Tails looked back at him. "Problem?"

Sonic shrugged. "No, just unexpected."

Tails turned back around. "Moving on. Your job for now is making Aunt Sally wanna give you a job. Like, a real job, not the odd job BS I'm gonna subject you to for the next week for my amusement." Yep, definitely gonna like this one. "Now before you get to feeling all special, everyone goes through this, I went through this. Aunt Sally is a woman with high standards."

"And here I thought I'd passed that test."

Tails laughed out loud. "Buddy, all you did was fulfill the price of admission. You got skills, I'll grant you, but A. We don't trust you yet, and B. We don't know what you have besides running."

Sonic groaned. And here he was, looking forward to this assignment because he thought it meant he'd be DONE with bureaucratic idiocy. "So what's the first step?"

Tails stopped at a work bench. "Well, it's like I said." Tails grabbed a box of tools and other miscellaneous objects and shoved them into Sonic's hands. "Amuse me."

* * *

"He's a sp-" Antoine was swiftly silenced by Bunnie putting him in a headlock. Sally, meanwhile, rubbed her temples as she sat down behind her desk. Bruin watched the two from an opposite corner, stifling a laugh. Sally snapped her fingers, and Bruin sped across the room to close the doors and lower the blinds on the windows.

"Hush up, sugah-twan." She hissed.

"Yes, yes, I understand, please let go," Antoine choked out through blue lips. Bunnie released the coyote, who doubled over gasping for air.

"Thank you Bunnie," said Sally.

"You think the kid's really a spy?" asked Bruin, who joined Bunnie and Antoine. "I mean, I had my suspicions, but…"

Sally chuckled as she pulled a cigarette from her coat and passed it from knuckle to knuckle. "That guy's a terrible liar. I had him pegged the minute he walked in. The test, among other things, was just to confirm my hunch. No merc moves with that kind of precision. And no merc offers his services for free and expects to live long."

"If that's the case, why didn't you have us take that giant blaster he had holstered the whole time?" Bruin asked.

"And why in blazes would ya leave him with Tails?" Bunnie chimed in.

Sally placed the cigarette into her mouth and allowed Antoine to step forward with a match to light it. When he stepped back, Sally mounted her elbows on the desk, laced her fingers together, and placed her chin on top. Smoke gently wafted from her devious grin, which the three had come to interpret as their leader being three steps ahead of them. "Let's begin with Bruin's question," she said. "Even if we did take his gun away, when you go as fast as he can, anything can be a weapon. Now, on to Bunnie. Tails is one of the best judges of character I've had the honor of knowing. If he spends a day with this Sonic fellow and likes what he sees, then there's nothing to worry about."

"And if he is not?" asked Antoine.

Sally sighed. "Then it gets complicated. Can't very well take him out to a ditch and shoot him like the last guy. I'll think of something, for now, just act natural, and keep an eye out for anything odd about our new friend." All three saluted before turning and exiting the office, leaving Sally alone in her office.

Sally place the cigarette on an ashtray on her desk, stood up, and walked to the window behind her. Unfolding the blinds, she saw Sonic carrying a stack of five boxes for tails, who led him down the road into knothole. _You're quite fascinating, Mr. Hedgehog,_ she thought to herself. _Don't disappoint me._


	5. First Day on the Job

**Well, here we are again. It's always such a pleasure. Remember when you tried to kill me—oh, wait, wrong character. Ahem, uh, sorry about the wait. Graduated college, got an internship that's been keeping me busy, and of course the sonic comics getting cancelled didn't exactly boost my morale for this story. Also working on an actual book. But we're back now! So let's get to it then.**

Among the ranks of G.U.N, there were things commonly known about Major Patrick Jones. There were of course the basics; he was an average height man of 42 with a neatly cut head of reddish orange hair and a chest you could grind meat on. He was stern, firm but always with an air of snide humor that made the men and women under his command appreciate him.

Those closer to him knew slightly more specific details. He walked around with a red plaid bandana wrapped around his neck, but when combat broke out, he always pulled the cloth up over his mouth and nose, like the legendary "cowboys" from the back-when times. He was a scholar of ancient human culture; the works of Tolkien and Gaiman, and the art of Picasso and Kirby. He was an advocate of the preservation of history; the rise and fall of the nation of America, and the triumph of the "one earth" movement.

And the closer still knew even more intimate things. How he hated sugar on his strawberries, how he always says he'd write a memoir one of these days, but whenever he would actually sit down to write, he would simply stare unblinking at the screen. And how every April, on a day like today, he would drive from the G.U.N headquarters in the coastal city of Apotos to a small grove outside city limits, carrying a picnic basket full of food for one, and share what had been keeping him busy the last year with his wife's gravestone.

But most of all that was known about Major Patrick Jones was this: he did not worry. To worry about something was to be afraid the subject of the worry is out of your hands to prevent, control or fix. And Patrick knew that was nonsense. He didn't believe in no-win situations. If he couldn't find a way to spin a scenario to his favor, then that was his fault, his incompetence. Something he tried to instill in Sonic throughout his life.

Patrick chuckled to himself as he looked down at the wine glass in his hand. "I've said it before, I'll say it again Emily," he said to his wife's grave. "You would've loved him." The kid was a handful, especially after puberty. If you told him not to do something, not only would he do it, he would have someone follow him around with a camera, live streaming him doing it to the entire world. His powers imbued him with a need to see everything this world had to offer. And yet, he would always come home at the end of the day.

Patrick looked up at Emily's tombstone. Upon the clean white marble, the epitaph read thusly:

Emily Jones

August 4th, 3041-December 6th, 3065

"We must accept finite disappointment, but never lose infinite hope."

Emily's favorite proverb, like with a lot of human culture from the back-when times, had outlasted the man or woman that originally said it. Though many works had retained their creators, some were simply absorbed into common human consciousness while the originator slipped away into the obscurity of time. No one Patrick could think of embodied that phrase more than Emily. A cynical shell that harbored one of the most optimistic and forward thinking minds of her generation. A generation that was sorely lacking in both of those virtues.

Patrick downed the wine in one gulp. "Wish I could say things are getting better," he said. "The war is technically over, but it's a temporary peace. The reason for it is still there: the bigotry, the distrust, the disparity, all of it. We just don't feel like shooting at each other right now." Patrick paused. "I really think the kid can change all of it, though. Don't ask me why, I just…have a feeling." A soft clearing of the throat came from behind him. Patrick turned to see Lieutenant Madonna Williams, short red hair, loose uniform, looser posture, standing there with a manila file under her right arm.

"Major," she said. "We've got an update."

Patrick sighed before packing up his lunch back into the picnic basket. "Give me the report."

* * *

"So you really think this thing can fly?" Sonic asked while leaned against the fuselage of one of the many planes Tails was working on. This one apparently had tails especially fixated. He named it "The Tornado", and while it was certainly better held together than the other planes, that wasn't saying much.

"Sure it can-socket wrench," Tails said, holding out his hand form under the fuselage. Sonic reached into the tool kit and handed Tails the wrench. "Just needs a bit of elbow grease. And a proper engine. And a rudder. And a propeller that isn't made of wood. And some tougher metal for the fuselage. And a-"

"I get it," Sonic interrupted. He looked to his right, where, sitting on a work bench, were the blueprints to the plane itself. Sonic sped over, grabbed the blueprints, and sped back to Tails' side in time to take the socket wrench and hand him a blowtorch. "Gotta say, man, not seeing how this is gonna work." Sonic squinted his eyes at the blueprints. "The wing shape would make it almost impossible to take off."

"Yeah, but when she does, she'll handle like a dream."

Sonic shrugged. "Hey, you're the genius."

"Yes, I am."

Sonic's chuckle was cut short by an elbow leaning on his shoulder. He looked up and saw Sally, clad in a more casual white button up and khaki shorts. "I trust you boys have been getting along?" she asked.

Sonic flashed her a wry, toothy grin. "As if there was any doubt," he said.

"He's a bit rough around the edges," Tails said as he rolled out from under the fuselage. "But I can definitely see ourselves making use of him."

"That's all I needed to hear," Sally said. She lightly swiped Sonic on the back of the head and cocked her head toward the door. "C'mon, rookie, time to impress me. We're going to robotropolis."

Sonic tenderly rubbed the back of his head as he followed behind her. "You know, I keep hearing about how I have to "impress" you. What, having super speed ain't enough for you?"

"Not particularly, no." Sally stopped at the door and turned on her heel to face Sonic. Her hands were held up in front of her head, which was tilted to the left while she gave a mockingly fake grin. "Oooh, look at me, I'm Sonic the Hedgehog," She said in an intentionally bad impression of him. "I'm too cool for last names, or even plausible first names. I smirk literally all the damn time as if only one side of my mouth functions properly. I can run around at the speed of sound on a whim, which _totally_ doesn't make me instantly deserving of intense scrutiny because I'm just _so cool!"_

Sonic grimaced, his cheeks flushing slightly. "That's a terrible impression," he grumbled.

"But not an inaccurate one!" Shouted Tails from across the garage.

Sally laughed and patted Sonic's shoulder. "Look, you do this right, and I'll ease up a bit, agreed?"

Sonic sighed. "Agreed. So, what _is_ this job?"

Sally opened the door and the two walked out of the hangar. They made their way down the hill the hangar was perched on into the main town below. Knothole village was a crossroads between a military compound, refugee camp, and fantasy elf village. While the ground was littered with a mix of tents and makeshift huts of wood and mud, the trees-larger and wider than Sonic had ever seen in his life- had been carved out to make room for more elaborate housing and weapon encampments. Sally continued as they walked. "It's a simple hit and run. There's a swatbot factory that Robotnik's been neglecting in terms of security. We're gonna go in, make him regret that oversight, then get out as fast as we can."

Sonic shrugged. "Sounds simple enough."

"Oh yeah, sure, easy peasy. Until that place goes nuclear, thereby kicking the proverbial hornet's nest and bringing down the entire city on our heads." Sally and Sonic walked outside the main city to find an armored jeep waiting for them. "So you know, simple."

Sonic gave his most charming smile and took sally's hand in his. "Well don't you worry, I'll have you out of that city before the alarm even starts blaring," he said with a wink. Then Bruin's gargantuan paw fell on his shoulder.

"Six. Feet. Pup." Bruin growled, tugging Sonic back from Sally. Sonic chuckled nervously, while Sally rolled her eyes.

"Yes Bruin, we're all very intimidated. Now, if we may get a move on?" she asked. Sally hopped into the driver's seat of the jeep, while Bruin climbed into the back to mount his rifle on top. Sally looked back at Sonic. "Get in or follow behind, your choice."

"I'll follow," Sonic said, stretching his legs. "In fact, just assume that's my stance on this sort of thing from now on." Sally shrugged and ducked back into the car.

"You're giving him too much free space," said Bruin as she got in.

"Your concerns are noted, considered-" Sally strapped herself in and closed the door behind her. "-and ignored." Sally pressed the ignition button, and the jeep growled and sputtered to life.

Bruin rolled his eyes. He hadn't heard the end of what Sally said, but he could make an educated guess. She always did this when a new recruit fascinated her. With luck, the kid wouldn't end up the same way those other cases did.

The twin wooden gates in front of them creaked open, allowing the jeep to drive through and out into the forest. Sonic bent low to get ready, placing his fingertips on the ground, then took off after the jeep, kicking up a cloud of dirt along the way. Sonic caught up with the truck in no time at all, running alongside Sally's side of the vehicle. Sally rolled down the window to talk to him. "There's a cave not too far from the city we use for our vehicles," she shouted over the truck's engine. "Follow close, and try not to kick up too much dust!" With that, and a quick salute from Sonic as acknowledgement of her orders, Sally rolled the window back up, and the three made their way out of the forest and into the desert between them and Robotropolis.

* * *

Incipere, like the other settlements far off from the capital, mostly went ignored by the nation's new lord and master. As long as it was obvious that no one was throwing in their lot with the rebellion, or otherwise trying to build any kind of united formal government, Robotnik was content to leave them to their mud hole. Today was not one of those days. As anyone still alive in the saloon could tell you.

"Where did they go?" Krueger asked the bartender calmly. The bar was awash in the blood of the patrons, and the walls were peppered with bullet holes from missed shots. Krueger was completely unharmed, while the bartender was barely clinging to life, sat up against what remained of his bar by Kruger so they could "chat" easier. Through his bloodshot eyes, he could barely make out Krueger's chrome claw reaching for him, resting three of his five cyborg fingertips against his face, while his index and middle finger positioned themselves right in front of his eyes. "I've asked everyone in this bar, you are the only one left. Shall I take my questions elsewhere? Perhaps someone else in this backwater hellscape has an idea."

The bartender's eyes drifted for just a moment to the wall behind Krueger. There, with a bloodstain from the waitress slightly obscuring it, was a framed photo of his family. There was no hesitation to what he said next. "They didn't say," he said. "B-but I saw the hedgehog leave with a war vet and a kid."

"Would this veteran be a bear, by any chance?" Krueger asked, his fingers getting a bit closer.

"Yes-yes, and a coyote too. I overheard them talking, I think they said something about a resistance. But that's all I know, I swear. No one else in this town knows anything, honest."

Krueger nodded. "I believe you," he said. Without warning, the talons on the ends of his index and middle finger shot out into long, silver knives which ran through the bartender's skull, killing him instantly. "However, treachery such as yours cannot simply be pardoned…" Krueger retracted the claws and stood up, walking out of the bar. "As this hedgehog will soon learn."


End file.
